The following documents, each published in the name of Dallas B. Noyes, disclose background information hereto, and each is hereby incorporated herein in its entirety by this reference:
1. U.S. Patent Publication No. 2012/0034150 A1, published Feb. 9, 2012;
2. International Application No. PCT/US2013/000071, filed Mar. 15, 2013;
3. International Application No. PCT/US2013/000072, filed Mar. 15, 2013;
4. International Application No. PCT/US2013/000073, filed Mar. 15, 2013;
5. International Application No. PCT/US2013/000075, filed Mar. 15, 2013;
6. International Application No. PCT/US2013/000076, filed Mar. 15, 2013;
7. International Application No. PCT/US2013/000077, filed Mar. 15, 2013;
8. International Application No. PCT/US2013/000078, filed Mar. 15, 2013;
9. International Application No. PCT/US2013/000079, filed Mar. 15, 2013; and
10. International Application No. PCT/US2013/000081, filed Mar. 15, 2013.
Conventional methods of using CNTs (“carbon nanotubes”) in engineering materials generally rely on embedding the CNTs in a matrix material. CNTs are currently processed in a wide variety of composite structures using metals, plastics, thermoset resins, epoxies, and other substances as the matrix to hold the CNTs together, thus creating solid objects. The CNTs act as reinforcing material to improve properties of the materials. Typical objectives of using carbon nanotubes in a matrix are to increase the strength, decrease weight, or to increase electrical and thermal conductivity of the composite.
Methods to make materials composed primarily of carbon nanotubes include spinning the carbon nanotubes into fibers and making “buckyrock.” U.S. Pat. No. 6,899,945, issued May 31, 2005, and entitled “Entangled single-wall carbon nanotube solid material and methods for making same” discloses a method for making buckyrock. Buckyrock is a three-dimensional, solid block material including an entangled network of single-wall CNTs. Buckyrock is mechanically strong, tough, and impact resistant with a bulk density of about 0.72 g/cm3 (see Example 3 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,899,945). The single-wall CNTs in a buckyrock form are present in a random network. The random network of the CNTs appears to be held in place by Van der Waals forces between the CNTs and by physical entanglement or interference of the CNTs. One type of buckyrock is made by forming a slurry of CNTs in water, slowly removing water from the slurry to create a paste, and allowing the paste to dry very slowly, such that the CNT network of the paste is preserved during solvent evaporation. Buckyrock can be used in various applications requiring lightweight material with mechanical strength, toughness, and impact resistance, such as ballistic protection systems.
Though conventional materials including CNTs have interesting and useful properties, the individual CNTs comprising these materials have significantly different properties. It would therefore beneficial to produce materials having properties more comparable to the properties of individual CNTs.